Kundalini Awakening Symptoms
Symptoms of Kundalini Awakening
Real Life Experiences & Descriptions of Kundalini Rising
Are you going through a kundalini awakening episode or experience? Let’s find out…
Kundalini awakening symptoms are truly a very intriguing subject. Really there is no correct answer to the question, “What are the symptoms of Kundalini Rising?”, as thankfully, each of us is absolutely unique and thus, on a unique trajectory on the path to Kundalini Awakening. That said, there are some common kundalini experiences that are often reported, which I would like to share with you in this article.
Although we can draw up endless lists of symptoms from third party accounts, I would like to instead make this series about kundalini symptoms that you or I have actually experienced. In this article, I will give a recent account from one of my students about what she experienced shortly after class, and then I will add my own kundalini experiences and observations as well.
In the comments section, I encourage you to add any kundalini awakening experiences or symptoms you have felt, so others can better understand what they might be going through. Here is the recent email I received from my student, Aida:
Aida’s Experience of Kundalini Awakening:
I am a student of the “Gentle Kundalini Class”. I just finished taking a series of exercise specifically for the spine.
As I left the class I felt energized as I usually feel after each class, but this time it was a little different, I was feeling extra aware of my surrounding. Like a light turned on. My back was so straight. It lasted all day.If I could go to class every morning I would go. It makes my day start right in every way. And there are times when I am not feeling like going to class and I push myself to go and do not regret it.Thank you for being my teacher.Aida D.
For those interested, here is a link to the Spinal Warmup Kundalini Yoga Kriya we did in class that day. Thank you Aida, for sharing your personal experiences with us.
This particular experience of kundalini is very interesting and significant. This is because it is the common experience of advanced meditation and of kundalini yoga. In the article, Powerful Kundalini Yoga Battles Profound Zen Meditation, I described my own such experience with kundalini awakening, but not from doing kundalini yoga, but instead from doing Silent Mind Meditation!
Aida’s experience points at the two things that all yoga and meditation boils down to. Energy and Awareness.
My favorite description of Kundalini Yoga is, “The Yoga of Awareness,” and as you see from her account, she felt more aware, as the energy of kundalini had risen up her spine. In meditation, it is the same. The demand for intense awareness, in order to comprehend the thought process via direct perception, leads to energy (kundalini) rising up and elongating the spine. Awareness then follows.
Jiddu Krishnamurti describes this experience of kundlaini energy flowing up the spine as “The rush of water filling up and thus causing a pipe to stand erect.”
When we insist that the spine be straight during meditation, it is simply to facilitate this awakening and thus, to assist in being more aware. I have experienced kundalini rising and puling up with such force, during meditation, that it sometimes make me feel as if I am going to be launched right off the ground or as if it’s going to pull my head off and up into the sky.
Symptoms of Kundalini Awakening:
I am going to describe some of the physical symptoms my students or I have felt due to kundalini awakening. I know there are many emotional and mental symptoms as well, and you are welcome to share those with us in the comments section below. I am grouping the experiences into 3 categories, common, uncommon and rare, according to what I have observed.
Common Kundalini Awakening Symptoms:
- Tingling in the body and brain region. Also sometimes described as ants walking, tickling energy or flushes of energy. The brain being flushed with energy is quite pleasant :-).
- Heat or cold in the system, or running along various channels and chakra centers.
- Fluttering or twitching of muscles.
- Pinching or burning in various regions of the body or brain.
Uncommon Kundalini Awakening Symptoms:
- Pressure in the Third Eye Region (Ajna Chakra). This is pressure, tingling or other sensation in the center of the forehead. Can go on for years (14 years and counting so far for me). Caution: If the pressure, due to certain practices, intensifies to uncomfortable levels you feel are “immense”, you should cease that practice and consult a competent kundalini yoga teacher.
- Sudden bursts of energy anywhere in the body. These are almost always short lived, from a few seconds to a few minutes.
- Spontaneous yoga asans or kundalini yoga movements. They may come on spontaneously, or they may take over, as if on auto-pilot when one is practicing Kundalini Yoga Kriyas or Exercises (For an example see article: Explosive Kundalini Rising in Class Today).
- Kundalini Shakti rising up and elongating the spine.
- Incredible feeling of love and desire for your partner (not ordinary lust, alcohol induced or otherwise :-). Usually comes upon you spontaneously, deep in the night. Sex feels like it’s the first such experience and the intense feelings of attraction emanate from somewhere beyond yourself.
- Unfortunately, pain in the lower back, back of the neck and headaches.
Rare Kundalini Awakening Symptoms:
- Experience of divine light within. Very intense light, usually pure white and incredibly beautiful. I call it the Radiation of the Lord.
- Tremendous vibratory energy (sometimes feels like it’s coming from the inner ears). Very blissful, but can intensify to the point where it would completely overwhelm your consciousness if you let it.
- Spontaneous bliss, intensely pleasurable.
- This one is a bit scary. Complete paralysis of the body. Complete immobility and rigidity takes place. As with the all consuming vibratory energy, it requires some courage to allow.
- This one is exceedingly rare. I have experienced it only once in my life, and have only ever read about it being experienced by one other – the master of awareness, G. I. Gurdjieff. The arms and legs churn like that of a baby. It happens naturally and cannot be simulated. It is also intensely pleasurable and quite a remarkable experience.
There are of course a wide range of transcendental experiences, some of which you will find described in the category Spiritual Enlightenment Experiences. Above, I have provide those that are more commonly associated with kundalini awakening, although many would argue, including Swami Vivekananda, that all enlightenment experiences have to do with kundalini entering the brain region in some capacity.
So if you have experienced some kundalini symptoms as well, please do share them with us below. I think it will benefit others identify if what they are going through is actually symptoms of the ever mysterious kundalini awakening.
Response to k #518….
Hi,
I had a similiar psychic type connection with someone who has telepathic abilities. Read #495.
I have found that I could also feel/hear/sense him
…. I sometimes felt a presence and heard little sounds…. or a I just
get a sense that he is around.
I’m wondering if there is anyway that you can talk to your friend about these things and confirm for yourself what has been happening. My relationship ended in a hard breakup so it’s too difficult for me to get information….. he may or may not be consciously aware of what’s going on…..and it sounds as if these things happen on their own without any conscious intention????
I too sometimes know when someone is thinking of me or writing me…though i feel it more in my head…
Kundalini has been active for me recently and I’m still trying to understand it and integrate it.
I would love to hear more about your experience as I’ve not been able to find anyone that has had these types of experiences…..feel free to write me at aviela@att.net.
It all started with what I think was my third eye opening. I didnt find out before two years later that I did though. The effects of the third eye opening was that I started taking everything I saw and heard incredibly personally, because I could feel the different spectres of energy coming from people I talked to and such. This freaked me the fuck out because I thought I had gone completely bananas. The kundalini though… It came to me while I played guitar, suddenly a white ball of energy came floating in the air, but I did not see it with my eyes, it was somewhere else, like an other dimension, and in that dimension all senses where united, because I could feel the texture of it without touching it, hear it, see it, and when it came close to me I automatically sniffed it in and this blue light flowed through my body with an orgasmic sound and feeling. After it happened I became all like “WOOW GUYS, I JUST EXPERIENCED AN AMAZING THING, IT WAS SO INCREDIBLE!!” They didnt understand of course. What I noticed the next hours what that I could understand feelings in a really profound way, can’t explain it further. I became extremely aware of everything I said and did. And I still am. I have noticed something else. When I laid in bed one night and was kind of depressed, the nose sniffing sensation came and I felt all energized and did’nt care about troble anymore.
It also has other effects like tingling and sensations all over my body, and I am completly sure that it is emotions rearranging or perfecting (in lack of better words). I have experimented with my self for a long time now. It is hard to explain, but my conscious, unconscious mind, body and spirit feel totaly united and this gives me an incredible control so I can tune everything together to harmony. For example: I want to say something but when I am going to say it I feel that it is not right, and I feel a conflict in my body, I can sense just where it is and its purpose. All of this is incredibly hard to explain, I just hope someone can relate to it.
I had an unusual kundalini/psychic awaking. I fell deeply in love with a man who was a previous aquantance. We were both married and decided to keep our distance and not persue a relationship. I thought of him very often. One day I realized I could feel him thinking of me too. If I’d recieve an emailfrpm him I would always get a little sensation af him in my right temple. Or I’d feel a wave of energy in my root and other lower chakras. I thought I was ging crazy. Then I realized if we were emailing of texting I could feel him opening my email and then hear his thoughts. To this day I have kept this a secret. We are still friends,I guess, but limit the amount of interaction we have with eachother. I still am unable to gert him off my mind. However, I am now experiencing many other peoples energy surging through my chakras as I email or text with them. One other thing was, with my friend, i believe that we had some sort of sexual energy experience that neither of us have ever talked about. But some nights I would wake up an feel and hear him and we would make love through our thoughts. My Kundalini would rise all he way up. Now when I meditate I feel like I’m about to levitate. Lots of information, sorry. Have you ever heard of something like this happening to anyone?
Dear Don: Thank you for your input and I am going to use your same statements before I meditate and whenever I feel the presence around me in my home. I wonder if these are those entities Kathy Rose was talking about these “white light entities”? In any event, I do appreciate your insight and I will use same with your permission. Blessings, Karen.
Dear Jules: Thanks for responding. Have you ever thought that maybe someone you know or knew might be trying to get in touch with you from the other side — like someone who liked bells or you had a connection with bells ringing? Just an afterthought. God Bless you and good luck with your dreams — maybe you found your spiritual guide already! Love and light, Karen. p.s. I, too, am glad we have a great blog to discuss these newfound revelations. Thank you Anmol Mehta, one and all!
To Jules and Karen,
I also visualize the white light around me, as well as affirming that I am only open to energies and entities that are from the light. I then say that I’m protected by the unconditional love of the Creator. I always do this before any meditation. I then say that no lower, dark energies or entities are allowed in this space. This has worked well for me so far. Hearing the bells can certainly be frightening, but it’s a good sign that your clairaudience (a clearer sense of hearing) is developing. I hope some of this will be useful to you. There truly is a spiritual awakening going on all around us, and it’s helpful to know that so many feel it.
Hi Karen,
In reply to your question, I haven’t received any comments about the bells…but I have been using some visualization techniques to protect myself when I feel a little uncomfortable. I’m sure others have better insight than I in this area, but I close my eyes and imagine a ball of pure white light above my head. I then imagine a ray of light emanating from the ball that slowly covers my body, starting from the head, neck, shoulders, until I am completely engulfed.
I have always felt safe when I start my meditations this way. I know for a fact that visualization techniques can be quite powerful….although I am not sure if my method is the most effective.
Hope all works out well for you…:)
This inquiry goes to Jules: Hi Jules. Did you ever get a response regarding the bells? I’ve been having some strange sounds and things like a big bowl dropping in the kitchen when no one was in there, etc. It’s scaring me a little and my questions are EXACTLY the same. . . good or bad and what to do to get only the good/protect one’s self ? Something about the white light but could sure use some help with this one. Thank you, Karen.
Hi Don, thanks again for your reply. To be honest I can’t tell where the popping sounds are coming from exactly. It’s around my head area but I can’t pinpoint it because it comes without a corresponding sensation.
Yesterday I had a “whoa” moment that scared me a bit. As I started meditating, I suddenly heard the sound of bells. I dismissed it because it was too weird and made no sense. Later that night, I was putting away some of my clothes i realized that I had placed bells around my closet door…years ago that I had forgotten about. The bells were hidden behind a hanging tassel with a plaque that had the image of praying hands. There was nothing around it that could have moved these on their own…and the windows were shut closed. I stood there for a few minutes, wondering what could have made the bells ring, and I just could not come up with a decent explanation.
I am still a bit skeptical when it comes to these things, but my gut tells me that someone or something shook those bells. Which scares me a little. If you’ve experienced similar things, how did you handle them without having a heart attack? Lol…I am partly joking of course, but seriously would like to prepare myself emotionally in case something more eventful occurs. And how do you know if it’s something good or something bad that is trying to communicate with you? I guess that is my real question…
Jules,
You’re welcome. I can definitely relate to what you’re experiencing. I experienced the same sensations in only my left leg the strongest from November 2010 to January 2011. Have you experienced any of those “popping sensations” in your neck or nose? That’s been my experience. Have you been experiencing any itchy crawly sensations in between your eyebrows, during or after meditation? I started seeing auras as plain as day just last year. I saw them frequently when I was little, but I didn’t pay attention to them, not knowing what they were.
I feel the “pin prick” sensations mostly in my big toe on my right foot. That happens from time to time shortly after I meditate, or when I lie down at night. I experience a fluttering of my right ear at times, or I will feel or even see my hair being moved on its own. I always find that comforting now, especially since I only allow high energies and entities near me that vibrate on a high frequency, and are from the light.
Thanks for the link. That was one of the first links I came across early last year. I visit several links on a regular basis, dealing with spiritual awakenings. If you ever want to chat more about it, I can be reached at donrwinslow@yahoo.com.
Thanks for your reply Don. I am ruling out Parkinson’s as well because the kicking sensations have only occurred in my left leg (typical of kundalini symptom), and the pin prick sensations which came suddenly yesterday were also localized to the left calf area. Also, the tingling sensations in the head and small popping sounds have started to intensify for me each time I start my meditation. When I felt the pin pricks, I immediately thought a pin or a splinter had lodged in my pants, so I lifted the seam slowly…only to realize there was nothing….lol.
I found a great site that appears to describe the biological explanations for why these phenomena occur, as well as offer a myriad of other symptoms that may manifest. In the site, she states that exercise in nature helps to “integrate” and normalize kundalini energy. She uses the term a few times in the site actually. I thought you might find it helpful.
Ananda, if you are reading this, the same site claims that the scent of roses may be a symptom of an active kundalini.
I am truly awed and humbled by this experience. And to think I started meditating simply to lower my blood pressure…:)
Jules,
I’m so glad that you weren’t freaked out by that sudden jerking motion. I’m thinking that it may have to do with the movement of pranic energy. It’s common to experience Kundalini rising from the lower chakras on up. The sensual dreams are definitely something I can relate to, as well. Are you feeling any strange sensations of heat in the leg that jerked? I suspect that many people who have been diagnosed with RLS are experiencing Kundalini symptoms. The moment I came out of a meditation last year, I couldn’t get the word “integrate” out of my head. I feel that it was referring to an integration of spirituality and science, as well as the integration of the ego and Higher Self.
It certainly can’t hurt to rule out Parkinson’s, Jules. When my finger started twitching on and off for a few months last year, I immediately thought of Parkinson’s, but considering my symptoms directly coincide with psychic visions, spiritual knowing, dramatic creative and spiritual inspiration for my poetry, direct visual awareness of auras, and so much more, it’s doubtful that Parkinson’s is the cause. I just kicked that thought to the curb.
Well the sensual dreams have stopped for me, although vivid dreams still continue for me every night. I had a slight break in my meditation routine because I was away for a few days, which may have halted the sensual dreams…but last night I went back to myusual routine…and the strangest thing happened.
I woke up suddenly and as I turned in bed, my leg started…kicking I think is the best word. This was no restless leg syndrome, nor were they the kind of small muscle twitches I feel during meditation. It was exactly like Don described…strong and sudden, without warning, like you see with Parkinson’s patients. It happened a few times and I lay there knowing exactly what it was. If I hadn’t read this site or Don’s testimony I would surely have freaked out. I wonder if these involuntary spasms are the side effects of brain waves or chemicals rearranging themselves?
Wow…is the only word that comes to mind. I am starting to realize how powerful these meditations can be.
Well the sensual dreams have stopped for me, although vivid dreams still continue for me every night. I had a slight break in my meditation routine because I was away for a few days, which may have halted the sensual dreams…but last night I went back to myusual routine…and the strangest thing happened.
I woke up suddenly and as I turned in bed, my leg started…kicking I think is the best word. This was no restless leg syndrome, nor were they the kind of small muscle twitches I feel during meditation. It was exactly like Don described…strong and sudden, without warning, like you see with Parkinson’s patients. It happened a few times and I lay there knowing exactly what it was. If I hadn’t read this site or Don’s testimony I would surely have freaked out. I wonder if these involuntary spasms are the side effects of brain waves or chemicals rearranging themselves?
Wow…is the only word that comes to mind. I am starting to realize how powerful these meditations can be.
Hi Anmol,
I have been practicing SDC and few other pranayamas, I also practice mindfulness meditation. During my meditation, I experience several smells, ranging from good to bad. Yesterday I experienced strong smell of sandalwood with a little touch of rose petals for about half an hour. I hear different opinions – its the awareness burning up subconscious patterns leaving a residue of smell; some say I’m being visited by angels etc. What do you think is happening to me ? How should I deal with it ?
Thank you for the reply Don. It helps to know that others were feeling similar sensations early into the practice. I’m so glad to have found this site as the testimonies will help validate my own experiences and allow me to anticipate other symptoms that may manifest.
Anmol, as to my lucid, sensual dreams, I don’t believe they are the kind of bliss that one experiences as energies are fully awakened…I have only been meditating for about a month, though it has been on a consistent basis of about 2 hours a day. I would not dare presume that I am anywhere near the type of bliss you describe in you testimony. I think the dreams are symptoms of changes that are starting to occur in my body and
mind. Although the dreams leave me feeling happy and content, I have been both a little frightened and awed by the experience. I know it’s strange to be complaining about pleasurable experiences, but similar dreams every night for two weeks…that has never happened to me before. Such dreams are not
common for me at all…at most, once every few months or so.
I also had a dream the other night where i found a piece of paper telling me which career path to take, and now I’m wondering if it was just my subconscience giving me a nudge or if it involved a higher power that was trying to point me in the right direction. Could my meditations have already connected me on some level to a spiritual side? Am I losing my mind? :) So confusing, but I hope to find answers soon…
Sorry for the long post, but thank you all for sharing your experiences, and encouraging us newbs to carry on. :)
Dear Jules,
Thanks for sharing your experiences with us.
Kundalini is one of the great mysteries and as the process varies from individual to individual, so it it is hard to say how long it will last. What is true though, is that great states of bliss or incredible love tend not to last more than a few days maximum (usually even less), from all the experiences I have come across – mine and others. This is probably a good thing, as even the body cannot handle so much continuous bliss.
Trust your heart and listen to your intuition.
Best,
Anmol
Jules,
I can relate to your symptoms starting almost immediately after you started meditation. Mine started two days after I started meditating.
Thank you very much for this site Anmol. When i first started experiencing the tingling of the head sensations and the ringing in the ears, I was a little frightened because I didn’t know they were kundalini symptoms. It all makes sense now though…the symptoms started about two weeks into my meditation practices.
In addition, I have been having very vivid sensual dreams every night for the last two weeks. I usually have vivid, colorful dreams every night, but this is the first instance I can recall where I have had such dreams for a long stretch. The dreams leave me with the feeling one has when you fall in love for the first time…quite blissful. I suppose these dreams can be attributed to the kundalini symptoms as well? If so, would you know how long they will last?
Thanks again for all your hard work again Anmol. Greatly appreciated.
Your article is most certainly well documented and quite interesting to read. The Kundalini Awakening experience is quite extraordinary in the fact that it bursts so much energy through the human matrix, to a point where it deconstructs and then reconstructs the energetic points and minor chakras. This is said to occur as a form of transitioning in order then feel the ethereal world much more sensitively. If you would to read more about my personal Kundalini Awakening please visit Kundalini Awakening